Our Fitness Blog

Don't Fret, Easy Prep!

Planning ahead and prepping meals in bulk is an easy way to stay on task with your 9R Nutrition.

Eating right and eating healthy, all too often, gets a bad rap in terms of preparation time. Many individuals have the belief that eating right requires tons of additional time in the kitchen. But, this could not be further from the truth. Let's take a turkey and avocado sandwich for example. How long does it take to toss a few ounces of turkey breast on a couple of slices of multi grain bread, add a slice of avocado and tomato and top off with a little bit of yellow mustard and/or Bar-B-Q sauce? Seriously right? I don't even know if this would take 60 seconds. Heck, even if it took two minutes, that's a great return on your investment of time. So imagine this, it does not take much longer to put together 3 sandwiches as it does 1 sandwich, right? Instead of compartmentalizing our meals and snacks, what if we thought ahead, even a few days, and prepared multiple meals and snacks that would then be ready to go for us throughout the week? I think this sounds quite appealing. Understandably so, many individuals like to plan ahead and stay organized. We can start to do the same with our nutrition. Take the sandwich example above. If you're getting your lunch ready for the next day, go ahead and make a few sandwiches. Again, that doesn't take much more time as compared to making a single sandwich. And then, store them in the refrigerator and you are ready to go, ahead of the game, organized and the guesswork has been taken out of it for you in terms of, "what am I going to have for lunch this week?" We can use the same principles for preparing dinners. This is the meal that many individuals feel is time-consuming in terms of preparation. But again, I promise you, eating a dinner that is spot on in terms of macronutrient balance and healthy does not take any more time then consuming a meal that is not-so-good for you. Let's say, for example, the dinner you want to prepare contains the following items: Chicken breast, whole-grain pasta, Romano/Parmesan cheese, pasta sauce and vegetables. This is a pretty quick meal to prepare and I am sure you would agree that it doesn't take much more time to cook up 4 chicken breasts as it does 1 chicken breast. Nor does it take much more time to cook up 1 cup of pasta as it does 4 cups of pasta. Therefore, when you prepare such a dinner, I would highly recommend making enough to cover 3-4 dinners. And then, when your preparation is complete, separate out the exact amount that you need for the next few dinners. Put these into individual containers, that way, once again, the guesswork has been taken out of it for you. Tomorrow night's dinner is in its separate individual container, ready to be consumed and enjoyed. In summary, I would suggest choosing a few meals that are your favorites and then when you prepare these meals and snacks, plan ahead and prepare multiples of each. Store each individual meal/snack in its own container and you will be amazed how easy your nutrition planning and preparation just became. Enjoy the great meals and snacks on 9Round Nutrition. Sincerely, Dr. Rick Kattouf II 9Round Nutrition Coach 2x Best-Selling Author CEO/Founder of TeamKattouf Inc CEO/Founder of TeamKattouf Nutrition LLC CEO/Founder Virtual Gym LLC